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  • Diary of a War Crime

  • DC Ruth Hunter, Book 1
  • By: Simon McCleave
  • Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
  • Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (42 ratings)
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Diary of a War Crime

By: Simon McCleave
Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
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Summary

Diary of a War Crime is the first book in the DI Ruth Hunter crime prequel series. If you like chilling police procedurals, true-to-life characters and psychological twists, then you’ll love Simon McCleave’s addictive thrill ride. 

London, 1997. A series of baffling murders. A web of political corruption. DC Ruth Hunter thinks she has the brutal killer in her sights, but there's one problem. He’s a Serbian War criminal who died five years earlier and lies buried in Bosnia.  

When Detective Constable Ruth Hunter is called to the death of a pensioner in South London, she becomes convinced that it is not as routine as it first appeared. There are links to the death of another pensioner which suggest a link back to the Bosnian War of the early 1990s. 

With the investigation thwarted at every turn, Ruth soon realises she may have stumbled upon a political cover-up in the lead up to the 1997 General Election. As she races against the clock, Ruth believes the man she is tracking is a Serbian War criminal who supposedly died in Bosnia five years earlier. Can Ruth find the notorious 'Butcher of Strigova' before he murders again to cover his tracks? 

Born in South London, Simon McCleave was a script editor at the BBC before working as a story analyst in Los Angeles. He worked on films such as The Full Monty and the BBC crime drama Between the Lines

Simon then became a script writer for television and film. He wrote on series such as Silent Witness, Murder in Suburbia, Teachers, Attachments, The Bill, EastEnders and many more. 

Simon is now a best-selling crime novelist. He has had over 300,000 sales and downloads of his DI Ruth Hunter crime thriller series. Simon has just signed a deal to turn the books into a television series.

©2021 Simon McCleave (P)2021 W F Howes

What listeners say about Diary of a War Crime

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    4 out of 5 stars

Good thriller

Thoroughly enjoyed - took me back to Blair coming into power, nostalgic. Enjoyable story. Would recommend as gripping and female leads.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent dialogue poor plot

Very easy listen but the story seemed very thin. Don't know if I recognise our heroine of later books in this story line.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Diary of a War Crime book1

I loved this book , easy to listen to the wonderful voice of narrator, and absolutely am addicted to DI RUTH HUNTER ,feel like I know her well , this book kept me highly interested right the way through

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible

Clunky plot. Terrible dialogue. Horrible narration. Why did both female police officers have to sound like Eliza Doolittle. An audiobook which felt like it was designed by a committee and knocked off on a Friday afternoon. Avoid.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Don’t bother

Tediously written with terrible female leads who veered wildly between being pathetic, downtrodden damsels in distress and utterly reckless. Totally unbelievable. I found myself wondering if the author had ever even met a woman before! There’s an unlikely but convenient lesbian angle, which felt pointless other than to add titivation for the male gaze. I found it hard to differentiate between the various Balkan characters as they were not fleshed our sufficiently and I really didn’t care who lived or died! In the end I just wanted it to be over.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

What a different book and I loved it

I am a big lover of female detective uk books and it took me awhile to get into it , but I soon did and lived the story line . Now to start the next book in the series .
Brilliant narration.

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